It was an unforgettable conclusion to the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season on Tuesday night, live at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Uptown Charlotte. I’m still wondering how it all played out the way it did. The finish sounds like an incredible script, but not even Hollywood could have produced a more insane finish to the 15th season of the top-level stock car sim racing series.

Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway and coming to the final restart of the season, this year’s Championship 4 sat inside the top-six positions. Williams Esports’ Parker White sat fifth, behind M80’s Steven Wilson in second and right behind Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bobby Zalenski in third. QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming’s Graham Bowlin was in sixth, behind two non-playoff drivers ahead in William Byron eSports’ Tucker Minter and his teammate, Wyatt Tinsley.

As Barney waves the flag, Minter jumps ahead and brings Zalenski through and ahead of Wilson. They lean on each other the entire lap. Out of Turn 4, they’re three-wide for the lead. Into Turn 1 for the final time, they’re FOUR-WIDE. Here comes Parker White on the inside! White clears the three of them, and now for the first time all night, White leads the race and the championship. Wilson overcooked the corner, losing the spot back to Zalenski.

Into Turn 3 for the final time. Zalenski sends it into White’s bumper. White goes to the wall, Zalenski moves inside. Behind them, it’s Wilson and Bowlin, waiting for a mistake. Zalenski gets tight, then spins! Parker White crosses the line and wins the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series championship!

White immediately celebrated his victory with his mother, Tricia, as well as some other family and friends in attendance. Moments later, he was introduced to the world as the newest iRacing World Champion by none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr, the two hoisting the aptly named Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup together before the celebration continued on.

Wilson wound up finishing second, with Bowlin scoring third, both of which would be their places in the championship order as well. Zalenski came across the line in pieces, 14th, leaving it “all on the track” as always. Williams Esports also claimed the Team Championship, with White’s teammate, Donovan Strauss, fighting back from a late-race spin to finish in 25th. In the battle for avoiding relegation, the only spot that changed by the end of the night was 20th, with 23XI’s Michael Guest staving off a trip down to the Contender Series over JR Motorsports’ Briar LaPradd.

THE RACE

Team Dillon Esports’ team owner, and Coca-Cola Racing driver in the NASCAR Cup Series Austin Dillon, gave the command to fire engines and the race was underway. Kanaan Esports’ Vicente Salas took the pole in a tie-breaker over Wilson, with White starting in third. Bowlin was mired back in 26th while Zalenski was destined to fight to the top from 32nd. Drivers reported through the week that leading was a disadvantage, so Wilson kept Salas in his sights for the opening stint, knowing the real battle was with those behind him.

On Lap 30, the first caution flew, and the entire field came down for service. Wilson cycled to the lead as Salas slid down into sixth. The field kept it green for another 10 laps before the second caution flew on Lap 44, a few laps before halfway but in the window to make it to the end. Salas regained the lead by staying out with a few others, but by Lap 55, Wilson was back on his back bumper. Two laps later, in a three-wide move, Strauss made his way to the top spot around Wilson and Salas, ultimately sending Salas back and down the order.

At this point, the Championship 4 was in the top-six position. Strauss led, with Wilson and White second and third. Minter was up to fourth, but behind him were Zalenski and Bowlin. This title was far from over.

On the 74th lap, the caution flew for a third time, setting up the final strategies of the race for the Championship 4. Zalenski opted for two right side tires, and came out second behind Minter. The other three opted for all four tires, and restarted the lowest they had been in a while—Wilson in ninth, White in tenth, and Bowlin in 14th. The ensuing restart showed why falling into the grasp of the field was not the move, as the incident consumed Bowlin, damaging his nose.

Wilson and White were both ok, but the more cautions that flew, the more equalized the two-tires versus four-tires became. Zalenski held the lead through a few more cautions, but on Lap 90, Wilson was back in command just before another caution. It still wasn’t over, however, as with Minter leading, Zalenski could work together with him as a technical teammate to time the restart perfectly.

On the Lap 96 restart, Zalenski managed to jump back ahead before Wilson wrestled it back, just for another caution to send it to eNASCAR Overtime. The final restart of the season was upon us. Wilson led the Championship 4 back to the green, but with Minter leading the actual race, Zalenski was once again able to get back to the front. They leaned on one another like $100,000 was on the line. Zalenski pushed into Turn 3 and slid up into Minter, leaving the door open for Wilson to take it three-wide.

Enter Parker White. As the three-wide for the lead slowed down the entirety of the trio, White lunged to the bottom to make it four-wide. It stuck for him, as Zalenski backed out and Wilson shipped it deep to get past Minter. It was too deep for Wilson, who gave up second in the moment to Zalenski. They all gave up the top spot to White, however, and into Turn 3 was Zalenski’s final shot.

He timed the bump-and-run perfectly, moving White up and into the wall. Zalenski gassed it up to get alongside, but the angle just wasn’t there. Zalenski got tight, then loose, then lost it. White escaped it, as Wilson and Bowlin battled back behind. It was too late for the latter, as White crossed the line ahead of everyone to claim his first career championship, becoming the 12th different champion in eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series history.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Round 18 at Homestead-Miami were as follows:

Fin.	St.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Interval	Led	Best	Pts
1	3	53	Parker White	Williams Esports	104	0.000	1	33.299	40
2	2	10	Steven Wilson	M80	104	-0.169	15	33.172	35
3	26	48	Graham A. Bowlin	QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming	104	-0.348	0	33.281	34
4	6	20	Wyatt Tinsley	QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming	104	-0.500	0	33.314	33
5	23	97	Tucker Minter	William Byron eSports	104	-0.487	27	33.137	32
6	5	54	Daniel Faulkingham	Joe Gibbs Racing	104	-0.616	0	33.321	31
7	4	89	Garrett Lowe	BS+COMPETITION	104	-0.643	0	33.297	30
8	1	11	Vicente Salas	Kanaan Esports	104	-0.659	42	33.348	29
9	8	7	Malik Ray	Spire Motorsports	104	-0.755	0	33.340	28
10	14	99	Matthew Zwack	Nitro Circus Sim Racing	104	-0.860	0	33.248	27
11	25	77	Casey Kirwan	Spire Motorsports	104	-0.855	0	33.414	26
12	40	6	Timothy Holmes	RFK Racing	104	-0.978	0	33.237	25
13	36	69	Ray Alfalla	eRacr	104	-1.018	0	33.333	24
14	32	18	Bobby Zalenski	Joe Gibbs Racing	104	-1.029	0	33.225	23
15	21	34	Michael P Frisch	Front Row Motorsports	104	-1.167	0	33.289	22
16	10	45	Michael Guest	23XI	104	-1.292	0	33.371	21
17	33	12	Garrett Manes	fgrAccel	104	-1.281	0	33.477	20
18	17	33	Taylor Hurst	Team Dillon	104	-1.392	0	33.425	19
19	19	29	Jimmy Mullis	Kevin Harvick Inc.	104	-1.392	0	33.321	18
20	20	90	Jordy Lopez	BS+COMPETITION	104	-1.437	0	33.406	17
21	27	8	Kaden Honeycutt	JR Motorsports	104	-1.477	0	33.380	16
22	22	22	Femi Olatunbosun	OXYGEN	104	-1.536	0	33.305	15
23	9	5	Zack Novak	OXYGEN	104	-1.587	0	33.305	14
24	39	38	Michael Cosey Jr	Front Row Motorsports	104	-1.570	0	33.501	13
25	7	51	Donovan Strauss	Williams Esports	104	-1.630	19	33.232	12
26	34	23	Keegan Leahy	23XI	104	-1.757	0	33.244	11
27	11	88	Briar LaPradd	JR Motorsports	104	-1.790	0	33.259	10
28	30	14	Seth DeMerchant	fgrAccel	104	-1.841	0	33.486	9
29	35	3	Jonathon Dulaney	Team Dillon	104	-1.872	0	33.589	8
30	16	40	Dylan Ault	Letarte eSports	104	-2.007	0	33.429	7
31	12	25	Nick Ottinger	William Byron eSports	104	-2.038	0	33.429	6
32	24	66	Kollin Keister	Kanaan Esports	104	-2.277	0	33.430	5
33	31	36	Quami Scott	Letarte eSports	104	-2.353	0	33.561	4
34	28	55	Ryan Doucette	Pittsburgh Knights	104	-2.360	0	33.455	3
35	29	17	Collin Bowden	RFK Racing	104	-2.993	0	33.442	2
36	15	41	Dylan Duval	Nitro Circus Sim Racing	104	-3.249	0	33.349	1
37	13	42	Tyler Garey	eRacr	104	-3.750	0	33.316	1
38	38	27	Cody Byus	Pittsburgh Knights	92	-12L	0	33.471	1
39	18	80	Ryan Luza	M80	80	-24L	0	33.506	1
40	37	62	Matt Bussa	Kevin Harvick Inc.	40	-64L	0	33.775	1

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Driver’s Standings through Round 18 are as follows:

1. Parker White, 3040
2. Steven Wilson, 3035
3. Graham A. Bowlin, 3034
4. Bobby Zalenski, 3023
   —————————
5. Vicente Salas, 2113
6. Tucker Minter, 2099
7. Garrett Lowe, 2087
8. Daniel Faulkingham, 2086
9. Nick Ottinger, 2041
10. Dylan Duval, 2035
11. Casey Kirwan, 446
12. Zack Novak, 371
13. Donovan Strauss, 359
14. Kaden Honeycutt, 351
15. Jimmy Mullis, 349
16. Michael Cosey Jr, 340
17. Femi Olatunbosun, 331
18. Jordy Lopez, 331
19. Seth DeMerchant [R], 320
20. Michael Guest, 314
    —————————
21. Wyatt Tinsley, 311
22. Malik Ray, 311
23. Briar LaPradd, 306

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Team Standings through Round 18 are as follows:

1. Williams Esports (#51/#53), 884
2. Joe Gibbs Racing (#18/#54), 857
3. M80 (#10/#80), 850
4. William Byron eSports (#25/#97), 844
5. Spire Motorsports (#7/#77), 796

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit www.enascar.com or www.iracing.com/enascar. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.